Galleries and Museum Exhibitions

Artify Gallery Presents: Whispering Void by Wong Xiang Yi

Artify Gallery is presenting the second solo exhibition of Malaysia-based artist Wong Xiang Yi in紙間 -Whispering Void from 15th December 2016 – 18th February 2017. Through the perspective of the artist and her understanding as a Fujoshi, the male protagonists in her work are transformed.

Wong Xiang Yi’s oeuvre is undoubtedly inspired by her experience as a Fujoshi (腐女子), a Japanese term for a ‘rotten girl,’ a female fan of homo-romantic relationships found in manga comics and novels. Wong’s initial focus in her paintings used to be purely centered on Yaoi, a term of ‘Boy’s Love’ in this Japanese manga subculture. In紙間 -Whispering Void, Wong presents her new work where her use of gong bi, a fine brushwork technique from tradition Chinese painting styles, will juxtapose harmoniously with the gentle characters depicted in her work. The artist’s use of gong bi in such a way, allows her to break free from tradition, in order to embrace the medium’s scope for a modern interpretation.

The static stillness in Wong’s artwork is reflected in the painting process she employs. The process of gong bi allows more time for the artist to develop her obsession for Yaoi. The irregular-shaped paintings employ the same grid composition as found in ordinary manga storyboards, as they inspire Wong to develop a multi-picture composition in her work. The charm of the grid is its “emptiness”, whereby the manga-reader or art-viewer can have their own time to move their eyes over the pages or canvas, to use their imagination between the empty, silent spaces.